The Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Gal. 5:22).

“He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (Acts 11:24).

Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit. He was also a good man. This is not surprising, since the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Goodness is a characteristic of being filled with the Holy Spirit and a characteristic of effective preaching. In Acts 11, Barnabas preached, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Preaching the content of the Good News without being good is contradictory.

“Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6).

If we are going to talk the good news, we must walk the good news. How we live our day-to-day lives is part of our witness for Christ. Our lives are a gospel, read by everyone who interacts with us.

*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

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